Team selected for Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor

Written by
William C. Vantuono, Editor-in-Chief

The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) has awarded the design-build contract for the Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project to Walsh/Shea Corridor Constructors, with HNTB Corp. as lead designer. The Crenshaw/LAX Line will connect Metro’s existing Green Line with the Expo Line and integrate Los Angeles International Airport into the regional rail network.

Scheduled to open in 2018, the 8.5-mile, $2.058 billion line will have eight new stations. It is one of 12 transit projects being funded by Measure R, a half-cent sales tax approved in 2008 by Los Angeles County voters. It will be the first design-build project under Measure R that Metro is leading. HNTB’s design work will begin immediately, with major construction starting in 2014.

WSCC has partnered with the Los Angeles Urban League to achieve community-based coordination that meets Metro’s project labor agreement goals. Working with the community, WSCC’s outreach will focus on construction mitigation, public information, jobs, diversity, interactions with labor, and innovative programs.

Four firms submitted proposals. WSCC received the highest technical score and submitted the lowest cost bid. Members of the WSCC joint venture have delivered a combined 17 rail transit projects on time and under budget in the past five years. Firms selected for the team have collaborated on $6.3 billion worth of past projects.

“By combining the resources of two of the country’s largest contractors with a forward-thinking principal engineer and architect of record, WSCC’s design-build team will collaborate and partner to achieve the project goals of safety, mobility, quality, environmental compliance, budget, and schedule,” said Joe Lee, WSCC executive. “We also are committed to making this project successful by creating a positive community project legacy through coordination, outreach, and economic and workforce development.”

“Metro’s Crenshaw/LAX Transit Corridor Project marks the return of rail transit service to an historic and important urban community,” said Steve Whitaker, HNTB design manager. “With our partners in Walsh/Shea Corridor Constructors, HNTB is committed to designing a transit system that is a point of customer satisfaction and community pride.”

HNTB “brings significant California experience on transit extension design-build projects, including Metro’s Chinatown Station Viaduct, San Francisco MUNI’s Central Subway, and BART’s San Francisco Airport, San Jose, and Warm Springs extensions,” the company said. “Our history in Los Angeles dates back to 1914 with Pasadena’s Arroyo Seco Bridge, and most recently, with the firm being selected as designer of the Sixth Street Bridge replacement.”

Walsh Construction is one of the largest contractors in the U.S., with 115 years of experience in railways, bridges, and heavy civil work and a decade of almost $2 billion in work on LAX projects. J.F. Shea Construction has local and national experience performing construction of major metropolitan transportation tunnels and complex underground stations under various geological conditions similar to those in the Crenshaw area. Shea has completed $21.6 billion in California projects since the 1920s.